Just Write

My books haven’t been selling as well as I’d like recently so I’ve attended a couple webinars by extremely successful Indie and hybrid writers on how to improve this. Most of the advice and research would suggest that my biggest problem is not having enough reviews (so if you’ve read any of my books, please post a review on Amazon, Itunes, Kobo, Goodreads, wherever. Any honest review would be great!) but getting reviews is not something I can control. A great webinar yesterday with extremely successful Joanna Penn and Mark Dawson had some good tips on how to encourage reviews, but at the end of the day there’s nothing I can do (short of spending $425-$575 on a Kirkus review) to guarantee I get a single review. So rather than focus on this I’ve decided the best way to expand my readership and grow in my writing career is to “Just Write”.

The phrase “Just Write” has been in my head for a few weeks now though I don’t know why. And while I haven’t been spending as much time writing as I would like, every time I sit down to work on My Life As Death I end up averaging around 1,000 new words. This is unprecedented for me. In the past I’ve usually averaged 350 words, and considered 500 to be great. I don’t know if it’s the story, which is really flowing well, or the characters which surprise me every time I sit down, or even just that I’m getting better as a writer but whatever the reason, I’ll take it. But there are times that I get concerned that because I’m not really in control of the writing process that the creative energy will suddenly stop and I won’t be able to get it back. That bothers me a little but then I realize that I can’t control that either, and in the end the only thing I can do is “just Write”.

By the way – the “Just Write typewriter graphic will be making its way to some merchandise soon. Check back here or at the design shop for updated offerings.

UPDATE! “Just Write” T-shirts are now available! Check them out HERE